Tuesday, September 6, 2016

On Phyllis Schlafly's Demise at 92

Phyllis Schlafly was a dishonest and hateful individual. Among her survivors is her son, John F. Schlafly, 65, who is gay. Phyllis must have hated John and she hated herself for having John. Given his support of his spectacularly homophobic mother it seems likely that John hates himself. Phyllis Schlafly, after all, was uniformly opposed to anything that might have benefited gay people.

It was same-sex marriage that brought out the worst in Schlafly over the last few years. Her opposition was largely based on her shouted belief that same-sex marriage provided approval of sodomy. Was John, a practicing attorney, supposed to be celibate?

After the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges Schlafly tried to convince governors that their compliance was voluntary and that their same-sex marriage bans were still in effect. Schlafly graduated from law school at the age of 51 (good for her). Apparently she missed the part about Marbury v. Madison.

Schlafly was extremely smart and she became very influential. She choreographed the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment which came up three states short of ratification. That in turn paved the way for conservatives to take control of the Republican Party. Schlafly was a demagogue. She claimed that the ERA would result in women having fewer choices and that they could not choose to be homemakers. Schlafly was always more interested in conforming the world to her idea of conservatism than truth. That is her real legacy.